Hi I'm Mandi! I lost a ton of weight from healthy lifestyle changes alone. Mainly eating better and walking more.
I learned A LOT of things during this process.
I learned that healthy eating can be super easy. I learned that it can save you tons of money. But I also learned a few interesting things about people. The following 3 things were the most mind blowing.
Quick fixes get all the glory
When you lose a lot of weight, people ask how (obviously). When you say it was from eating better and moving more, a lot of the time people seem to "tune out". Why? Because it's not sexy. Healthy lifestyle changes do take time, and they do take effort (although they can be super easy). Since I went from trying every fad and craptstic product to just making simple lifestyle changes, I have seen firsthand the difference in reaction when you say "I tried *insert "miracle" pill here*" and "I am eating healthier and walking lots".
You Might Get Some Unsupportive Comments
Be prepared that your healthy lifestyle change might stir up some feels in the people around you. You might get some unexpected less-than-supportive comments from the people around you, and I want to tell you that this is OK. Having been on both sides of this phenomenon I can say that this does not come from a place of malice, it more comes from seeing a positive change in someone you love and having it make you re-examine your own choices. Which has the potential to bring up feelings that suck.
Your Established Friendships May Evolve
What does this mean? Well, even in a long established friendship you might discover that a healthy lifestyle change can help you grow together in unexpected ways. Case in point- I have a dear friend and we connected on many levels. I would say that our friendship was already pretty solid. However once I started eating healthy we started to connect on a totally different level, trading recipes and recommendations and finding even more things to do together (like experimenting in the kitchen). Score!
The most important thing that I learned in this process was not to put ANYONE- including myself- in a box. I always viewed myself as hopeless in the kitchen, and thought my "cool girl" credit was somehow tied into eating like crap and neglecting my health. This could not be further from the truth. So while I learned a few interesting things about other people, I also learned way, way more about myself!
Share This Article
